I think most of us are more than happy to be in 2023 and seeing 2022 firmly in the rear-view mirror. To be honest, I think I’ve felt that way at the end of every year of this decade. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in that sentiment. Between COVID disrupting just about everything - claiming so many family and friends – as well as the political unrest that has been non-stop, the last three calendar years have had many more negatives than positives.

This new year does look a little brighter, especially for myself and for Tuscany Bay Books, but I get the sense that it may be the same for many others as well. For the first time in awhile, I go into a new year with a sense of hope for the world in general. We’ll hope that this feeling bears out for all of us.

So what is coming up for me and Tuscany Bay in 2023 – at least that I know of at this point – you ask?

Well, a lot actually.

For Tuscany Bay Books we already have our publishing schedule set for 2023 and 2024. This includes three more books in Declan Finn’s White Ops series. Book #4, Gathering Storm, comes out in late February. Lori Janeski’s novel, Phoenix, is out on Tuesday and she’s wrapping up work on the sequel as part of The Carter Files series. And John C. Wright’s Starquest 12th Age series will debut later this year.

Our catalog is gradually being uploaded onto the bookstore on Baen Books’ website for those with ebook readers other than Kindle. This introduces our books to a much bigger audience and gives our house a chance to really grow.

We’re also looking at offering a service to authors who want to go the Indie Publishing route but don’t feel confident enough to do all of the steps that go into releasing their novel into the wild. The service we have in mind will take the finished (read: fully edited) manuscript and format for ebook, paperback and hardcover formats. We will also provide an ebook and print cover. Once the author has given the final results their final approval, we will upload the book into Amazon through the Author’s KDP account (which we can set up for them as well if needed). We’re still looking at what the final cost will be, but we’re hoping to launch it soon.

For myself, I’m looking to finish and publish between 4-6 books of my own – now that I have things settled at Tuscany Bay – and I’m even hitting the road to show up for one day at FenCon in Dallas in September.

With Reservations now in development for a motion picture, I’m writing the screenplay to adapt Escaping Infinity as well.

And for this Substak, I’ll be creating content for paid subscribers, including a monthly serial for subscribers only.

I’m also going to be making some videos you might find of interest. In addition to my posts here on Substak, I’ll be vlogging about science fiction and fantasy and publishing on both Instagram and TikTok.

I’m even going to set up a YouTube channel for Tuscany Bay Books for our book trailers and for a video series you might enjoy. It will be a sort of spoof news report – hey, I was a newspaper guy back in the before times after all – that will poke some fun at the SF/F news of the day.

As soon as those are up and running, I’ll be sure to let you know.

The way I figure it, the best way to make 2023 the best year of the decade so far, is to try to start having a little fun and bring some joy and happiness back into the world. And we’re going to do that through the books, and the videos, we’re going to be producing.

I hope you enjoy them, as much as I’m going to enjoy producing them for you. And I hope you all have a great 2023.

Dispatches From A SciFi Scribe

Happy New Year!